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Syrians in Manbij Celebrate Defeat of Islamic State
In an offensive that took 73 days, a coalition of Kurdish and Arab fighters, with the help of USA airstrikes, took control of the city just south of the Turkish border on Friday.
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Saturday saw spontaneous celebrations from civilians returning to the wrecked city.
The operation to liberate Manbij – which had been under Islamic State control for almost two years – began in May.
Women in the Kurdish-controlled city of Qamishly on August 13, 2016, mourn over a coffin during the funeral of several fighters from an Arab-Kurdish alliance, who were killed during battles with the Islamic State group (IS) in the northern Syrian city of Manbij.
During their rule, IS jihadists imposed a hardline version of Islam, mandating strict social restrictions on Manbij’s residents.
Isis forces women to wear the burqa, which covers the entire body apart from the eyes, as part of its interpretation of Sharia law and has also made beards obligatory for men in some strongholds.
The SDF had flushed most of the ISIS militants from Manbij by last week, but on Friday the last of the militants began to flee.
Women carry newborn babies while reacting after they were evacuated by the Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters from Manbij.
The third major party to the five-year-old conflict, the extremist Islamic State, is seeking to establish an Islamist “caliphate” in large swaths of Syria and neighboring Iraq.
“Military operations will continue until these villages are clean”, Mr Haj Mansour said. “It has lost the centre of Manbij, it has lost control of Manbij”, he said.
Tens of thousands of people lived in Manbij before the assault started at the end of May.
The residents had good reason to celebrate; Syrian Kurdish officials who spoke to the Associated Press said that ISIS had been using civilians as human shields.
They also called on the US-led coalition that has been battling IS in Syria and neighbouring Iraq “to back us in our struggle to liberate our land and our brothers from the Daesh terrorists”.
It was unclear under what conditions the civilians were freed, although the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said an agreement was made between the SDF and IS using local mediators.
Although divided since 2012, the western districts held by Syrian President Bashar Assad have not experienced the severe deprivations of areas in the east that rebel forces control. The UN has said more than 78,000 people have been displaced since then.
The SDF was formed with USA backing in 2015, when Arab fighters joined forces with powerful Kurdish militias.
It was not clear whether those leaving were hostages or had left voluntarily, a Kurdish source said.
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Raja Abdulrahim contributed to this article.